The Road to Miss Minnesota

Angelina Amérigo is a digital media management student showing what it means to stretch the lessons she’s learned in class to their fullest potential.

Angelina earned the title of Miss Minnesota at the Miss Minnesota Scholarship Competition on June 24, 2023. She previously held the Miss West Central title. These competitions fall under the Miss America organization.

As part of her bid for these titles, she not only showed her talents, but her ambition to spread word about sustainability nationwide.

Angelina runs the sustainability initiative “One Bottle, One Straw, One Bag at a Time.” She raises awareness about the harms of one-time use plastic and educates people on how to protect our oceans, lakes and rivers.

Angelina says people don’t realize their effect on ocean pollution. The Mississippi River is responsible for roughly 40 percent of plastic pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, which starts and flows through the state.

“I've reached over one million people with my message in the last four years,” she says. ‘I've been able to have some incredible conversations with chief sustainability officers from corporate companies like Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald's and General Mills,” says Amérigo.

This is a big part of why Angelina decided to get her degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead. To reach her audience, she needed the skillset to manage her work and lifestyle.

“The reach that you have when you're using digital media in the right way can be so impactful,” she says.

The flexibility of pursuing a fully online degree allows Angelina to balance her new title, schoolwork, entrepreneurial work and teaching at her local dance studio.

Earning a digital media management degree with emphases in advertising and public relations as well as marketing helps Angelina to connect with people nationwide.

Participating in the Miss America organization provides Angelina with not only the opportunity to educate others, but also helps her pursue her own education through scholarship opportunities.

The money she earned from being crowned Miss Minnesota is going towards attaining a master's degree in brand marketing and supply chain management once she completes her bachelor’s. She’s now earned over $24,000 in educational scholarships through service and competition in the organization.

“The Miss America organization is the largest provider of scholarships for young women in America,” she says. “It's exciting to earn this scholarship prize and put it into action.”

Angelina has always loved Miss America. But it wasn’t until later in high school that she participated in a competition.

After her competitive dance season, she decided to enter a competition in Perham, MN. Preparing for the competition and seeing the impact she had the potential to make inspired her to stay in this work.

“I fell in love with every aspect of this organization. I saw this deeper purpose that I wanted to dive into,” she says.

As Miss Minnesota, Angelina will continue to advocate for her sustainability initiative and promote the successes she has during her time representing the state. She will also have the chance to compete in the Miss America competition in January 2024.

“Within seconds, my God-sized dream became a reality. At the very moment I heard my name called, I was filled with gratitude, shock, excitement, and unending joy,” Angelina says recalling her achievement. “In the last few weeks, I have resonated with the quote: 'You once dreamed of being where you are now.’ Daily I wake up living my dream. I’m honored and humbled to be the 87th Miss Minnesota.”

A piece of advice Angelina has for young girls is to dream big because you're not going to believe what you're capable of doing when you grow up.

“The dreams you have end up truly happening. And 99.9% of the time, they’re even bigger than you could even imagine. Dream big. There's no harm you can do in that,” she says.

Visit https://www.angelinaamerigo.com/ for more information or follow her on Instagram to see the work she does as Miss Minnesota for the next year.